Illinois Football Preview: It's Okay for the Fighting Illini To Have Nice Things - Like the College Football Playoff
X CFN, Fiu | CFN Facebook | Bluesky Fiu, CFNIllinois Offense BreakdownIllinois Defense BreakdownSeason Prediction, Win Total, Keys to SeasonDon't screw this up, Illinois.The 1997 Fighting Illini went 0-11 in Ron Turner's first season. In 2001, Turner's team went 10-1 in the regular season and went to the Sugar Bowl. This was a new era of Illinois football, the program was finally going to be a player, and ...Illinois won a total of 13 games over its next five seasons.
Ron Zook was able to lead the 2007 team to the Rose Bowl. It lost, but it really was possible to recruit in Champaign, the team broke through, and ...Illinois went 8-16 over the following two seasons.Through the end of the Zook run, to Tim Beckman, to Bill Cubit, to Lovie Smith, Illinois went 14 seasons without an eight-win season.
And then came Bret Bielema. He brought the attitude and a style that grew into a 10-win season, highlighted by living in South Carolina's kitchen and making waffles in a troll job of a Citrus Bowl victory. Now, in Year Five, he has a team that's worthy of a preseason top 25 slot, probably top 15 in some circles. And now the Illinois football program has a shot at back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time since ...Ever.
Illinois should be consistently good at football. It has the proximity to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis, just like Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri do. It has the coach who knows how to get to the Big Ten Championships and, back in the day with the Badgers, Rose Bowls.This year, it has the skill parts, one of the best defensive back eights in the Big Ten, the kickers, the building buzz, and the schedule that misses a slew of top conference teams; it's there. It's okay for Illinois to have nice things. Like a trip to the College Football Playoff, if it plays up to the experience and potential. Illinois Offense BreakdownIllinois Defense BreakdownSeason Prediction, Win Total, Keys to Season
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